The Final Countdown

November 7, 2012

This last week of training has been a whirlwind. We have had tests, massive amounts of shopping, and we have been trying to spend the last bits of time together before we are all separated. I am also trying to figure out times to skype people from back home while I actually have internet easily accessible; once I move to Vava’u it will be hard to come by...

We have spent this last week at Sela’s Guest House, which has been a funny bookend since it is where we started the PST journey a couple of months ago. We have been having a good time hanging out with each other and exchanging movies, t.v. shows and music, getting stocked up for the next 2 years. We have had some interesting encounters at Sela’s as well, like the man in the room next to Mandy and Chiara’s room having a lady-of-the-night visitor as we were all trying to study for out Language exam. It was my first time I had ever seen one of these types of deals go down, and it wildly sketchy and pretty damn awkward… Last night the same guy asked Michael, who was playing guitar, to play a song for him. After his rendition Your Crying Eyes (which he sang to seductively to be real), he told us how the Russians have been working on a weather controlling device… These incidences have given us all a much-needed break from all the stress of finally moving to site. We have all been given 1000 pa’anga to buy everything we will need for our homes for the next 2 years, that includes fridges, stoves and any other items we think will be necessary for survival in rural villages. 1000 pa’anga seemed like a lot until the shopping started and I realized everything here is extremely expensive! Plastic bins to store food (so the rats don’t get in) cost 40 pa’anga, and forget about the cost of any silverware or washing buckets!

Along with the shopping we were all stressing over our language test that happened yesterday. We had to have an oral test to make sure we reached a certain level of language before we start service. Mine ended up going okay even though I feel like my answers where too elementary and didn’t reflect how much of the language I have actually been able to learn (thanks to Tasi and kava circles). I am sure I at least passed but I hope I did a little better than just that.

We actually got to watch the election coverage today! One of the PC staff, Kevin, had invited us all to his house and we made salsa and tortilla chips and bought pizza. It was really fun being able to get caught up on some American news, it is amazing how disconnected you can get here, I am ashamed to say that I am not sure I would have even known it was election day if we did not have such a big event for it. We are so isolated from any news out here that without making something like an election viewing such a spectacle it will be tough for us volunteers to stay informed. It was really great having one of our last palangi events for a while, even though I know I will miss everyone and our gatherings, I am ready to do what I came here for. Goodbye comfortable life hello Peace Corps life.